Brussells, Belgium

22-23 May - Kim and Jamie went to Brussells, Belgium with the girl scouts. Enroute, they toured the European Space Center. http://www.eurospacecenter.be/ It was alot of fun and they had a great time. Jamie was the first to be strapped in a gyroscope and spun around, sideways and upside down for about 45 sec. Great video!! They arrived in Brussells and had dinner.

Sunday they visited Mini-europe which is all the famous places in Europe in minature. www.minieurope.com/en/index.html. It is a really interesting place. It is alot like the place we went in Hamburg but bigger scale. Then they visited the Antomium http://www.atomium.be/ It is a large scale model of a atom of iron magnified 165 billion times :) You can travel in all the cells on escalators or steps. The elevator goes 47 feet/sec.

Then the girls came home.

Jamie at the mini Brussells Grand Palace

Jamie at MiniEurope with the Atomium in the background.

Jamie strapped in the gryoscope - you need to see the video!!

Brussells, Belgium

Jamie giving commands to her Shuttle Crew at the European Space Center.

Mother's Day

8-9 May: Kim and Jamie went to Bern, Switzerland for the day on Saturday with the Kaiserslautern Girl Scouts. They had a good trip, saw the Bern Bears, ate Cheese Fondue, took a tour of the town and did a little shopping. They toured a small family operated Cheese maker. It was a good trip for them for Mother's Day together.

On Sunday, we dined at a local restaurant. The food was good but the service took too long. Kim and Jamie had the asparagus (spargle) and James had the Salmon. For dessert, we had a small Mutterstag (Mother's Day) cake we got at the bakery.

Jamie - Not a Fondue lover :((((((

Famous clock in Bern

Jamie eating a Strawberry Torte - Why? Because that is what her Grandfather would do :) Always thinking of others :)))

Hockey Game

16 May - Jamie and James went to a hockey game in Mannheim. This year, the World Championships of Hockey are being held in Germany - Cologne and Mannheim.. The US, German and Slovak teams are playing in Gologne. Jamie and I took the day to go see Italy and Kazahkstan play. There were maybe 1000 people at the game. It was not too expensive and we had a very good time. We had great seats. Italyl won 2-1. In case you are wondering, yes those are Skoda Hockey Helmets!!!!!!!! the USA did not do very well in the tournament but Germany is playing now for a spot in the Semi Finals. Germany is the surprise team!!!!! Next year the tournament will be held in Slovakia - one of the arenas is about 20 miles from Tina :)) It is a Great thing for Slovakia to be holding the Championships!!!!!! At the Game With the tourney Mascot!!!!!!

Toby Keith concert

1 May - While Kim and her Mom and Aunts were travelling, Jamie and I attended a Toby Keith concert at Ramstein Air Base. It was sponsored by the USO. Tobu is a huge supporter of the military and this is his 14th USO tour. He arrived the night before from Korea and was on the way to Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait for more concerts. The concert started at 8pm but the doors to the hanger opened at 7pm. Since the concert is free, they line starts pretty early. Jamie and I arrived at about 5pm to stand in line outside. The concert was held inside an aircraft hanger. We got in and went to the standign room only area and we were about 10 rows back. There were about 2,500 people there. there were some bleachers but not many. there were about 20 Wounded Warriors from Landstuhl Hospital there as well. The concert was about 1 hr long and really good. Jamie had a good time and knew most of the songs. The USO does alot of these type concerts and visits of people to the troops all over the world. If anyone asks - How can I support Soldiers, contributing to the USO is a great way to do that.

Go Kart Driving

11 Apr - Well, she ain't no Danica Patrick but Jamie had fun today. We went to a local indoor go-kart racing. It was the first time she drove anything. She crashed two times on the first lap because she was driving slow. She finally got some confindence. She drove for 30 minutes and had fun. She finally passed someone - he was many 7 years old but she passed him!! She is a BLURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!

West Wall Site Visits

10 April - Jamie and I visited two sites along the famous West Wall or Seigfried Line. This was a defensive belt that Hitler built to prevent any French invasion of Germany. It was basically the counterpart to the French Maginot Line. One difference is that Hitler knew he would one day invade France, the French never had any intentions to invade Germany after WWI. Constructing the West Wall gave Hitler a few things: motivation of the people to protect against a French Invastion. The Germans were still made from the results of WWI. It also gave him a way to employ people after he rose to power. A political truism is - People with jobs love the people that created those jobs - no matter what the job. Some other differences are that while the Maginot Line is not a connected line but a series of fortresses at certain points and all along the French-German border. The West wall was mostly a continual line of dragons teeth, tank trenches, pill boxes, artillery positions, road barricades, bunkers. The fortresses are much smaller than the Maginot Line but just as effective.

We visited the West Wall Museum just south of Pirmesans. It was very well done and preserved. Only part of the fortress is open. The museum has a very good display of vehicles and weapons and how they lived in the fort. We enjoyed it.

Next we drove about 30 minutes north to see some of the dragon teeth. These were ALL along the border. They were built by an organization called Organization Todt with was all civilians with military leadership. After the way, Germany destroyed alot of the pilboxes and pulled up the dragon teeth in the fields and near cities. Only a few places remain in the woods. Across the street is a network of trenches covering the road from franch. This one is about 25 minutes west of our house.

Jamie at some Dragon's Teeth

West Wall museum entrance

Jamie with a German Schutzenpanzerwagon (Infantry Armored Car)

Model of West Wall fortress.

Dinner at Castle

3 April - After a day of trips, we met at Burg Lichtenberg Castle for Dinner. Kim and Jamie took the Gregoires on a Rhine River cruise. James took the Groom Girls on a trip to Belgium to Bastogne and some of the Battle of the Bulge area. Everyone enjoyed dinner. Photos below.

Appel Strudel

French Toast with ice cream - only $10 :)

White Asparagus with potatos

Everyone at dinner

Pork tenderloins and Spaetzle